Consumers commonly judge the desirability and wearability of a garment by many appearance criteria, such as, the absence of wrinkles. However, fabric, especially cellulose-based fabric, inter alia, cotton, has a propensity to wrinkle either upon drying after the laundry process or when worn.
Permanent press finishes have been used to provide a crisp, smooth garment, however, permanent press processes must modify the fabric itself, either by cross linking of the cellulose fiber or by applying a less flexible coating material. The breathability, especially of cotton, is sacrificed if the applied coating or crosslinking fills the interstices of the fiber cells. For natural fiber, inter alia, cotton, most coatings must be chemically reacted with the fabric fiber itself in order to obtain the desired level of anti-wrinkle properties. This type of treatment also can occur during the synthesis of polyester fabrics as well. To achieve controlled deposition, there must be an affinity for a fabric surface and the ability of a substrate to lie down onto the garment surface is key to achieving and maintaining a smooth fabric surface.
However, it is preferable that anti-wrinkle benefits are provided via simple and convenient consumer compositions, methods, and products to be applied in the consumer's home. These consumer compositions and products are preferably safe, and do not involve complicated and/or unsafe treatments and/or applications. Desirably they comprise treatments that are familiar to the consumers, such as soaking, dipping, pre-wash treatment, adding to the wash cycle, and/or adding to the rinse cycle.
There is, therefore, a long felt need in the art for a fabric treatment system which provides anti-wrinkle benefits to fabric, and which is convenient for consumer use. This need is met by the present invention.